A statewide change to the cutoff date for kindergarten entrance has Connecticut school districts planning for a backlog of pre-schoolers, a shortage of kindergartners and a new, uncertain exemption process.
As of next fall, all students entering kindergarten must be 5 years old by Sept. 1, after a new state law moved the cutoff date up four months from Jan. 1. That means thousands of students with fall birthdays who would have been eligible to start school in 2024-25 will instead have to wait an additional year.
